ELAINE'S MOVEABLE FEAST

Remember how indulgent I was to pay that much for French macaroons, well today was completely personal and indulgent day.

I made an appointment to have another manicure today.  I like the woman at the Culture of Color on the rue de Grenelle.  They offer O-P-I nail color and although Maria is from Portugal, she speaks a little English.

I picked my favorite color “Kiss On The Cheek” and had a pedicure also.  The €61 price tag for both is equivalent to about $83, plus tip of course.

I had made an appointment for a hair cut at L Paris as well for this morning.  My appointment was with Alain.  I loved the welcome I received when I arrived there.  He extended a happy “Bonjour, moi Alain!”  “Je suis Elaine, I responded.”  He offered to take my coat and scarf,hung them on a coat rack and then helped me into a bright red light robe.  I was led to the sink area where I was given two shampoos and then a light conditioner.  He was so gentle, I thought to myself, he’s kidding right.  But, as my shampoo progressed, he did start to apply some additional pressure.  My hair was covered in towel and I was ushered nicely, so nicely to a seat in front of the mirror.

It was there that my hair was revealed when the towel was removed.  He smiled into the mirror while looking at me and said, “Beau coup de bouclés.”  He reached for one and it was then I knew what he was saying.  He was telling me I had a ton of loops, meaning my naturally curly hair.

He took off about 5 inches and in the second photo above you can see how long it was and I needed the hair cut really.  Above I had just pulled off my hat and was being seated to have lunch, so it is a little askew.  My son happened to take this photo because he wanted to try the app, Hipstamatic that I have.

He was so very nice and when he finished, he showed me the back of my head in the hand-held mirror and said, “Superb Madam.”  Obviously, this man knew that I was superb!  Seriously, You know how I feel about new experiences, well this was a really nice one.

I emerged with a much lighter feeling head and rushed off to La Poste.  I had some post cards and letters I needed to send off.  I then headed back to the apartment.

When I returned my husband and son wanted to take the bus to one of the oldest sections of Paris to have lunch.  They had no idea that when I saw Le Mariage Fréres on the corner ahead, I would go running.

I have been dying to buy some of the tea they sell.  It is an institution here and founded in 1854.  So I went running!

This Maison de Thé á Paris has a tea salon upstairs.  I bought 4 different teas, 100 grams each which I can’t wait to have.  I took the photos above including the one I snapped while the young man was weighing it.  You then turn and go over to a small, low window where you take your receipt and pay for your purchase.  Quite a charming, old and wonderful shop to visit.

We went on to lunch to a place that was recommended to us.  It was the La Rôtisserie d’En Face at 2, rue Christine.  It was a wonderful restaurant.  I am a big fish eater and I ordered the salmon with spinach, pictured above.  It was absolutely delicious.

When we started walking away my son pointed out some writing on the wall in gold of this corner restaurant.

The young Louis was made King one hour after his father Henry IV died, or something like it.

Well, I had a wonderful day.  It is not often that I get a haircut, manicure and pedicure in the same day.  Okay, I had a delicious lunch in Paris with my husband and son, followed by buying some tea and a lovely walk around the 6th, the Odeon area of St. Germain des Prés.  Yes, I did, I went home and had a delicious macaroon and a hot cup of tea too!  I know it’s indulgent, forgive me.

There is no way your day in Paris could be bad.  It would be the same as trying to find a bad meal in this city, which would be almost impossible.

After a good walk most of the time, there is the excitement of finding out where you will have your lunch for that day.  The choices are endless and the plat du jour is a different offering naturally everywhere.

Stopping and browsing the menus in the windows or reading the black board outside a restaurant is serious fun.  Where shall we have lunch, in here perhaps?  Well, let’s walk a little further to see the next, and so on.  You really only have up until 3:00 to decide.  A lot of places close then and do not reopen until dinner.

But, it’s the dessert that is the beautiful ending of the meal.  The topping on the cake if you will.

The top photo is of one of my favorites here in Paris.  There can be no favorite as they all are too amazing, so it just depends what you might be in the mood for really.  Above is the Tarte Tatin at Ladurée served with fresh cream for dolloping all over the top.  I wonder to myself if it would smooth the skin or what other wonders it might do for the face if it were applied and smoothed all over it.

The second photo is of the triple chocolate delight offered at Kong at 1, rue du Pont Neuf. Kong is the beautiful glass rooftop restaurant where scenes were filmed for Sex In The City.  It is chic and quite colorful.

The third photo brings us to the Brasserie Bofinger on the rue de la Bastille.  The crème brûlée here is set a flame to form the perfect sugar crust.  It is one of the oldest brasseries in Paris.  This landmark opened in 1864.  This is where I love to order the sole mueniére and sit under the gorgeous, illuminated glass dome ceiling.

Ah, macaroons from Pierre Hermés, this is the real thing!  I personally am a chocolate person, but as far as macaroons go, there is nothing like them on the planet!  They are soft, they are filled with succulent cream, they are utterly heavenly and are made in divine flavors.  My daughter wanted to buy some. This two dozen container was €36, which converted to USD is $48.00, not that they are not worth it, but still it’s a little expensive.   This is a real French macaroon.

Every store window is quite honestly a show stopper.  They feature elaborate and beautifully decorated small works of art, yet delicious, not just pretty to look upon.

Now we get to the amazing Angelina.  It is near the Louvre on rue de Rivoli and you can take the metro to the Tuileries stop.  Don’t miss it if you get the chance.  Order the chocolate chaud, the hot chocolate.  They even offer chocolat blanc chaud , the white hot chocolate. Just imagine, hot and thick melted african chocolate being poured into your cup.  Naturally, they provide a sumptuous side of heavenly whipped cream.

I think I have mentioned the word cream several times, or was it, that I said I ate cream a lot here, I don’t remember.  I only know that my doctor asked me to up my calcium intake, so if you convert cream to calcium, then you can see I am gladly following my doctor’s orders!

The construction of the l’Opéra Garnier was completed in 1875.  It is located at Place de Opéra here in Paris.

In 1896 part of the Grand Chandelier broke and gave way killing one person.  It is because of this incident along with the underground canals that led to the writing of “Phantom of the Opera,” by Gaston Leroux in 1910.

The 2,200 seat opera house was designed by Charles Garnier.

I took so many photographs here because it is so grand and so large.  The details are just amazing.  I am including some with this post just to give you a peek and the idea of just how beautiful this opera house is really.

The chandelier is said to weigh over six tons.

In 1969 this ceiling was painted by the famous Marc Chagall, which surrounds the chandelier.  There is currently a major exhibition of the work of Marc Chagall for the 25th anniversary of his death in 1985.  It is at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome. The exhibition is to include over 140 works and is entitled “The Upside Down World of Marc Chagall.”  We are going to Rome and plan on seeing it around the middle of March.  The exhibit will be on until the 27th of March.

Even outside there is a beautiful balcony all done in marble which could be enjoyed during intermission.  There are busts of the great composers too, like Beethoven and Mozart among many others.

It is quite lavish, with its alcoves, sculptures, cherubs, friezes and many columns.  It was designed to allow the large crowds of people to move throughout.

Pictured here is the Grand Foyer.  You can see the many chandeliers that line each side of the large room.  The ceiling is utterly gorgeous and beautifully ornamented.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures that I took of the Opéra Garnier.

Today I would like to take care of some odds and ends.  That is partly because I got a message from my computer telling me that the disk which holds my iPhoto library is full.  Imagine that, I only have about 8,000 pictures in it!  As much as I would love to post a story about the amazing day we had yesterday, I cannot post any new photos until I get an external hard drive to handle them.  So I would like to share some of what I already have in my computer with you that have not been posted.

The day we went to the Musée Rodin and we were standing somewhere near the bronze sculpture of Le Penseur (The Thinker), my son took this beautiful photo of my husband, my daughter and myself.

My husband and my son are blessed in that they can work from anywhere in the world, as long as there is an internet connection.  So many people are able to work from home today.

Over the past two weeks the stores have started to change their windows from the winter looks over to the new spring lines.

I would like to share some interesting windows caught undone.  To the left here these men were caught completely off their game.

Below left, you can see how bare these femmes and hommes were left standing in the windows for all the world to see.  But, here below right, this is a fine and wonderful example of alternative dressing!

In case you caught yourself wondering, you don’t have to, because yes, Domino’s delivers!

Below left.  When we first arrived the Christmas lights were strung across rue Saint Dominique.  They were so pretty in blue.  If you look up the street right there in the middle you can see the Eiffel Tower.

When our friends were visiting, we went to the Latin Quartier and had this picture taken of Jodi & I.  You can see how narrow the tiny streets are.

Update,  I bought the external hard drive that I needed to help my computer handle all the photos I have taken so far.

Tomorrow I can update you on what we did yesterday with photos.

I can tell you that last night, our friend here in Paris invited us to dinner at his apartment in Montparnasse.  He was so thoughtful to pick us up at our apartment, do all the food shopping, prepared an amazing dinner and drove us back.

He wanted to share with us a traditional dish called “Le Raclette.”  He said it is something that friends and family share in a casual atmosphere.  It was so nice, he started by offering us some champagne, or some wine. He wanted to have everything so nice for us.

We enjoyed once again being entertained in his apartment and he is so generous and always so thoughtful. We brought some wine and a beautiful box of chocolates.     He shared some of his music with us and some video of his lovely wife who is currently in concert in Guatemala.  She is the number one recording artist there and has sold out three concerts in just the past few weeks.  She is such a talented singer and teacher of voice technique.  We love his wife, she is so nice and we are sorry that we have missed her this trip.  However, we did have the pleasure of her company, as well as her husband this past November when they paid us a visit when they vacationed in New York.

I can only tell you how much thought went into the meal and how delicious it was.  We sat around his table sharing his meal and enjoying his company right down to the créme brûlée and coffee.  He refused to let us help him clean up anything.  Then graciously he drove us back to the apartment.  My family & I care for him so much and appreciated all he did for us.

Remember the night my son and I went to the cinema to see “Les Discours du’roi?”   Well,  I came across this photo that he took the other night.  It was taken when we were walking home and we walked by Les Invalides.  It is so beautiful at night when it is all a glow.

My husband read the post about GOING TO THE MOVIES IN PARIS and asked if we could go to see the “Black Swan.”  He wanted to see the theatre and have the experience himself, and of course, see the movie.

I went through the whole process once again to purchase the tickets on line, yes in French, but I’m a pro now!  You must know that secretly I prayed that I did it right again.  We decided to have lunch first, then take the hike to the theatre, find a boulangerie for coffee and a sweet and then on to the cinema.  We had a fantastic boeuf bourguignon at Les Cocottes de Constant at 135, rue Saint-Dominique in the 7th.  We always go here, we love this brasserie and the food is so deliciously served in a Staub casserole where the last bite is as hot as the first.  To read about it, click on the link highlighted above.

We stopped along the way at a really authentic old boulangerie, Le Boulanger des Invalides Jocteur. It was so cute with the bike waiting, the little tables and chairs and the topiary potted plants outside.  We ordered coffee and shared a luscious dessert.  The bakery has been there since the building was erected.

I took a few pictures of inside and tried naturally to be discreet.  I have posted some here.  The next photo is of inside with the little stools, the tables and the baked goods.

How could you possibly miss this gorgeous ceiling!

This photo captures the mood of the bakery to me.  It is just a poignant little photo with the newspaper on the roller available for you to read, the floral tile, the beautiful mirror and you cannot see here, the large glass pot offering the chocolat chaud (hot chocolate).

Now onto the cinéma.  Yes, the woman asked me in French which movie, I knew “noir,” for black but, really who would know the word for swan!  Everything was correct, we were handed our tickets and my husband enjoyed it and the movie.  It was really, really good and I can certainly understand why Natalie Portman has been nominated for an Oscar.  The performance she delivered was of Oscar caliber in my opinion.

We walked home through the park, while I had my French playlist playing in my ear.  It was just wonderful really, when I noticed a beautiful Parisian private mansion tucked across from the fountain.

In the foreground, the gold is the very large fountain which is not turned on at this time.  You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Another perfectly marvelous lunch, a long walk, a little coffee and dessert, a great movie, just another day in Paris.

Yes, I’m live in Paris for the G20 weekend too.  Have a wonderful weekend!